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Diamondbacks-Dodgers Preview

May 31, 2010 - 2:49 AM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Arizona (20-30) at Los Angeles (27-22), 9:10 p.m. EDT

The Los Angeles Dodgers were successful while enduring two-plus weeks without Andre Ethier.

Now the Dodgers are hoping that success continues with their top hitter back in the lineup.

Ethier is expected to make his return from the disabled list Monday night and try to help the Dodgers add to their recent NL West dominance as they open a 13-game homestand against the slumping Arizona Diamondbacks.

Los Angeles (28-22) won 10 of 15 after Ethier fractured his right pinkie during pregame batting practice May 15. The Dodgers batted .243 without their outfielder, who is hitting .392 with 11 home runs and 38 RBIs, but they've also had the majors' second-best ERA in that span (3.20).

Los Angeles gave up two early runs Sunday in Colorado but contained the Rockies until the ninth inning of a 4-3 win. Xavier Paul, who will likely return to Triple-A Albuquerque when Ethier is activated, hit a go-ahead single in the sixth as the Dodgers salvaged a split of their six-game road trip.

"This was a good series for us," manager Joe Torre told his team's official website.

Heading into its longest homestand this season, Los Angeles has won 10 of 12 against NL West teams and has a major league-best 15-5 record in its division. The Dodgers are also 5-1 versus Arizona (20-31) this season and have won 13 of 17 home matchups since Aug. 1, 2008.

The Dodgers have a good chance to add more wins as they'll start a red-hot Chad Billingsley (6-2, 3.63 ERA) against a Diamondbacks team that's dropped seven in a row.

Billingsley will try to win a career-high fifth consecutive start in a streak that began May 10, when he allowed two runs over 5 1-3 innings of a 7-3 victory.

The right-hander, who has a 1.80 ERA in his last four games, wasn't as successful against the Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium on April 14. He gave up six runs over 5 2-3 innings but escaped without a loss in a 9-7 defeat in 11 innings.

Rodrigo Lopez (2-3, 4.57) will oppose Billingsley for the third time this season. The right-hander is trying to avoid losing consecutive outings for the first time since 2007 after giving up four runs over six innings in Wednesday's 7-3 defeat at Colorado.

Lopez is 0-2 with a 5.30 ERA in his last three games against the Dodgers and has beat them once in six lifetime starts - back in 2002 with Baltimore. Ethier is 5 of 11 (.455) all-time against the right-hander.

Lopez will try to help his team avoid dropping eight in a row for the first time since a nine-game drought Aug. 5-14, 2004, but the Diamondbacks have been outscored 53-17, batted .196 and posted a 7.82 ERA during their losing streak.

They nearly rallied to end that slide Sunday in San Francisco until Chad Qualls gave up two runs in ninth inning and Carlos Rosa allowed three two-out singles in the 10th. It was the 11th blown save for the Diamondbacks in 21 opportunities.

"We created this mess, and we've got to get ourselves out of it," manager A.J. Hinch told his team's website.

Along with his success against Lopez, Ethier is also 16 of 40 (.400) during an eight-game hitting streak versus Arizona.